Taylor Swift Wrote Little Big Town’s New Single ‘Better Man’

Taylor Swift is the songwriter behind Little Big Town's new single, "Better Man." The quartet revealed the news on Tuesday (Nov. 1) at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium, where they announced their upcoming 2017 residency at the Mother Church of Country Music.

"Some of you have been asking and we told you that there was a young girl in Nashville that wrote it by herself, and it's Taylor Swift," Karen Fairchild told reporters gathered on stage at the Ryman. "She sent us this song and it was one that was really special to her, and she thought of us because of the harmonies. She's never pitched the song to anyone before and the moment that we heard it we were like, 'Man, that is a song that we're going to cut.'"

According to bandmate Phillip Sweet, all four members immediately had the same reaction upon first hearing "Better Man," and knew they had to record it.

"This one just felt special," Sweet says. "We've known Taylor since she was in high school. She's a dear friend of ours. The song speaks for itself and that's what we thought when we heard it, no matter who wrote it. It feels like it was meant for us to go with this emotion. It felt like it belonged to us and we made it our own."

Jimi Westbrook adds that it has been fun to see how the lyrics change the perspective on the song from person to person, saying that "Better Man" has had a much wider scope than they realized upon recording it. He cites the emotion that Fairchild provides on the lyrics as one of these reasons.

"Everybody has a better man," Fairchild reflects. "It might have been a lover or a parent that disappointed you or a friend. The beauty of that storytelling is that we can all relate to being disappointed in someone but still loving them and saying, 'Hey, enough is enough. This would have been amazing if you had gotten your act together.' And, that's a fun song to sing."

"Better Man" is the first single from Little Big Town's upcoming album The Breaker, due out Feb. 24.